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Oak Harbor misses out on win | Legion

Teddy Peterschmidt peers home in Oak Harbor's district game Wednesday.

— image credit: Jim Waller / Whidbey News-Times

The Oak Harbor Legion baseball team can attribute its 8-7 loss in eight innings to Anacortes in the opening round of the district tournament in Mount Vernon to things it missed.

Like missed opportunities, missed baseballs and missed execution.

Oak Harbor left 12 runners on base, including nine over a four-inning stretch.

Oak Harbor missed four grounders, resulting in errors and five unearned runs.

And Oak Harbor missed assignments, failing to cover first twice on bunts.

The result was the extra-inning loss that sent Oak Harbor into the losers' bracket. It meets Stanwood at 10 a.m. Thursday, July 18, at the Dream Field at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon in a loser-out game.

Oak Harbor and Stanwood split during the league season, with Oak Harbor winning 16-3 and the Cannons winning 9-6 July 9.

Oak Harbor and Anacortes finished the summer league season tied in fourth with 9-7 records, but the Steamers were the only club in the nine-team league Oak Harbor didn't beat at least once during the regular season.

Again Anacortes escaped with a win over Oak Harbor, this time coming from three runs down heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Anacortes scored an unearned run in the bottom of the first to go up 1-0. Oak Harbor took the lead with two runs in the top of the second.

In the second, the Wildcats loaded the bases (walks to Clay Doughty, Anthony Stewart and Rhys Mattila), but it appeared Oak Harbor might squander the opportunity. However, with two down and two strikes, Brent Mertins ripped a two-run double.

Anacortes regained the lead with two in the bottom of the third, then Oak Harbor, after leaving two on in the third and fourth, scored four in the fifth.

The start of the inning was similar to the second. Doughty singled and Stewart and Mattila walked to load the bases. And again with two outs, Mertins doubled in two runs.

Teddy Peterschmidt walked, Jack Richter was hit by a pitch and Brandon Bailey singled to add two more runs.

In the sixth, Mattila doubled in Stewart to push the Oak Harbor lead to 7-4.

Anacortes knotted the score with three unearned runs in the sixth.

While the Oak Harbor defense was sloppy at times, it turned a double play to erase a threat in the bottom of the seventh.

The bottom of the eighth started with an odd play. Richter took a bad-hop grounder off his face, recovered the ball and threw to first baseman Mattila. The throw drew Mattila off the base toward home and into a collision with the runner. Mattila was able to tag the runner during pileup before falling to the ground. The umpire inexplicably called the runner safe.

The game was halted for a few minutes while Richter was treated and Mattila recovered.

Two bunt singles, one with no defender at first, loaded the bases. After a force out at the plate, a single to right ended the game.

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